Dame Patricia Routledge says 'I'm an actress, not an actor'

Her sit-com character Hyacinth Bucket was famously strict about pronunciation.

Now Dame Patricia Routledge herself has revealed she has no time for sloppy speech.

She said she 'can't stand' how people drop their aitches and 'now the "ks" and "gs" are going the same way,' she added.

And the theatrical grande dame, now 95, also revealed she is a traditionalist when it comes to gendered language.

'I'm an actress, not an actor, by the way,' she said.

And although it's almost three decades since the last series of Keeping Up Appearances, the star revealed she still receives letters from fans of the show.

She said: 'I get letters still from all over the world even though we made the last series in 1995.

'I had a letter from a lad of nine or 10 a few weeks ago saying how much the family enjoy it and watch it together.

'He said "my dad's been laughing at a woman like you across the road for years". Wonderful.

'Fans in America still hold candlelight suppers (infamously organised by Hyacinth in the TV series) and invite me.

'People like it because there's no smut.'

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Referring to snobbish housewife Hyacinth's varied wardrobe of outlandish outfits, from riding breeches to nautical-themed dresses and hats, she said: 'It won't date because the clothes don't date.'

Dame Patricia told how her character had 'leapt off the page' when she was sent the script – but said late co-star Clive Swift had little to go on for how to portray put-upon husband Richard.

She said: 'He made bricks out of straw to create Richard.

'People ask how did the marriage work? We decided he'd been an orphan. He was looked after (by Hyacinth), his shirts were ironed, his food was on the table.'

Although she has fond memories of the character – one of her two best-known television roles along with detective Hetty Wainthrop, and for which she did 'all but two' of her own stunts – she stressed: 'I'm not like her, of course.'

Dame Patricia, speaking in a talk about her career at Derby Theatre, told she began in showbusiness as an assistant stage manager at Liverpool Playhouse, so 'I know all about being a dogsbody'.

As well as sweeping the stage, the actress said her work led to her interrupting performers in their dressing rooms.

'I wasn't much cared for, disturbing the little liaisons going on. I knew about the affairs,' she recalled.

But after receiving classical training for her singing, a career in musical theatre took off, taking her to Broadway in New York where she impressed legendary figures.

Composer Richard Rodgers – who with Oscar Hammerstein and Lorenz Hart created some of the most iconic musicals – came unannounced to see her in a show.

Dame Patricia said: 'At the interval, I found a note in my dressing room from Richard Rodgers saying, 'I'm here to see the show, would you please call my office on Monday. I did the second half half-paralysed.

'I rang the office and arranged to go and see him. He was very complimentary and said, I want to write a musical for you. Who does that happen to?

'We tried to find the right subject and character but couldn't hit on the right one. (Fellow actress) Katharine Cornell made a suggestion which I didn't pass on, Joan of Ark. I didn't do it but I should have. I did perform in a musical written by him, though, as Nettie Fowler in Carousel.'

She also recalled how Leonard Bernstein travelled from the US to London especially to audition her for a role in in 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, a musical about the history of the White House which ran briefly on Broadway in 1976.

Dame Patricia performed Duet for One, a musical about 'two prospective First Ladies' – playing them both.

'One was a dizzy, high-pitched wife, the other a growly German,' she said. Dame Patricia put on a different wig for each character, and 'became good friends' with Bernstein, keeping in touch with him and going to his 70th birthday in 1988, two years before his death.

She called for music to be given more importance in schools, revealing that when she was at primary school in Birkenhead, Merseyside, a piano was wheeled into each class 'for 20 minutes a day'.

'Music matters. We need to shout to the government.

'I sponsor one or two young musicians at the academies - young singers mainly, because this miracle of what we can do with two pieces of gristle in our throats always amazes me.'